Ethiopian Folktales

Narrator Unknown

There were two men who wanted to kill a leopard. The leopard saw them and started to run and on his way he met a farmer.

The farmer was singing while ploughing, saying:
“I am ploughing,
Watching the clouds
That come to bring me rain.”

The leopard asked him, “Please save me from the hunters, passing the feed over me.”

The farmer agreed, and put the leopard in the seed container.

The two hunters stopped near the farmer and asked, “Have you seen a leopard?”

The farmer says, “Yes, he has gone away from here.”

So the hunters run on.

The farmer says, “Go away, leopard. They’re gone.”

The leopard says, “Either I will kill you or you must bring me some food.”

The farmer says, “Why? You will kill me since I saved you?”

The farmer says, “Let's go and ask the donkey to mediate.”

The farmer asked the donkey, “Am I the one to be eaten?”

The donkey says, “Yes, why not?”

So they went to the fox and the farmer said, “I saved this leopard and now he wants to eat me.”

“How did you save him?” said the fox.

So he told her the story of the hunters and the pile of grain.

The fox says, “Show me how it was.”

So the farmer hides the leopard again.

The fox says, “Now tie him very tightly.”

The farmer does so.

The fox says, “Now beat him.”

And the farmer does. And killed him.

The farmer says, “You saved me. What shall I do for you?”

The fox says, “Bring me a good sheep.”

And the farmer brought her a big dog.

The fox saw him and said,

“Death is not enough for human beings.”